Discovery of the Worst Kind
by Rose Teardrops
Summary: Not quite sure if the rating's right ... kind of an apology for not updating AOS. At the moment a one-shot, continuation possible. In case you can't tell, I really don't like GW, RW or HG. And that's just in this one-shot! It'd be great if someone would design a front cover for this / AOS for me or the challenge in it. Please review and let me know whether to continue or not! :D RT


Discoveries of the Worst Kind

Ron, Harry and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room. Hermione was attempting her DADA homework yet again, while Ron (who hadn't done it even though it was due in in two lessons, right after Potions) and Harry (who did it easily the night they got it) were playing a game of exploding snap. At the end of their game, Harry turned around to face Hermione.

'Do you want some help?' Hermione didn't respond, Harry didn't think she heard him. Sitting down on the sofa next to her, he continued: 'what you have to do is -'

'I DON'T need YOUR help!' Hermione screeched in his face. 'You're just a useless, worthless little boy whose only good for fighting the Dark Lord and you can't even do that right! He's still around isn't he?!

A second after she finished her (admittedly short) tirade, Hermione glanced at Harry. He was breathing heavily and his hands were trembling. The worst thing though was his eyes. There was just so much pain in them. A few seconds later, she broke the frozen silence between the three with an apology, none of them noticing the entire common room listening in. 'Harry ... I'm so sorry, I -' 'Save it.' Without another word, Harry stood up and left out the portrait hole.

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Five minutes later, he came back through, hoping to just ignore Ron and Hermione, get his books, which he'd left on the sofa next to where they were previously sitting together, and leave. Both of them were in nearly the same positions as he left them, except they'd both turned slightly so, coincidentally, they couldn't see the portrait hole. As he drew closer to them, he accidentally caught a bit of their conversation. From the way they were muttering, it was clearly something they felt strongly about. He thought he heard... But no, they wouldn't say that... Almost as if it were fate, at that exact moment a fifth year in the DA was trying to practice the 'Sonorous' spell. However, he missed the partner he was aiming at, hitting Ron and Hermione instead.

'- right Ron!' Hermione said, not noticing that the entire common room had stopped and was listening in yet again. 'Harry _is_ an arrogant brat who does anything to be noticed, and then goes and says how much he hates fame to get our pity! He's a useless little idiot who can't do anything for himself.'

'I know 'Mione, but we have to put up with him for a bit longer, think of what Dumbledore's given us so far to be his friends, I'm pretty sure all that money came from the Potter vaults. And Ginny's already spiked a few of his drinks with love potion, so when they're married and he dies in a 'tragic accident' we'll definitely get all of the Potter fortune.'

Eyes widening, Harry stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. Everyone in the common room was staring at either him or Ron and Hermione. The fifth year ended the spell and the two voices quieted down to murmurs again. Every single person in the common room turned to Harry as one, with expressions varying from horrified to shock to speechless. No one knew what to say, they just watched. In front of their eyes, they saw Harry Potter change. The pain in his eyes faded until they were completely dead. Without another word, he walked up to the boy's dormitory, collected his books, and just walked out of the common room to his next lesson, Potions.

When he was gone, people started glancing around for Ginny and, similar to the amount of chance of that fifth year casting sonorous at Ron and Hermione, she walked in the portrait hole, freezing when all eyes other than Ron and Hermione's turned to her.

'What?'

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In their Potions lesson, the next lesson in fact, the Slytherins were wary of how quiet the Gryffindors were. Their lesson had been moved outside got the first time ever, and they were gathering ingredients from a meadow just at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

There was a reason Professor Snape picked on Harry the most, and it wasn't entirely because of who his father was. No, it was more to do with how Harry reacted. He could have been in Slytherin got the tongue he used when arguing with him. Therefore, he was trying to find something to insult Harry about, as it was the only form of amusement in these lessons. Finally, Harry made the smallest slip, accidentally cutting off an important part of the Dragon weed he was harvesting, which everyone had done at least four times other than him.

Snape gleefully approached Harry, finding an insane amount of joy in the mistakes of his student. 'Potter! You, boy, are completely useless ... Are you ok? Potter! Answer me!'

He cut himself off when Harry's eyes - 'eyes that already look dead' Snape thought to himself suddenly- widened and filled with pain, pain no one should have to go through.

He looked around and spotted the glances the Gryffindors were giving each other, and their pale faces. The only ones who weren't looking horrified and panicked were Ron and Hermione, who were instead trading smug looks of agreement.

Turning back to Harry, he suddenly got quite scared when the boy smiled wryly at him. A smile that should never be seen on the face of someone under thirty. Eventually he answered, looking his Professor right in the eye with a shake to his hands.

'You're right. I'm a useless, worthless freak.' With that, he promptly slumped to the floor in the meadow. As he fell, Snape dropped with him, catching him before he could hit his head on the grass. As he caught Harry's back, he felt a tell-tale tingle of magic that signalled a powerful glamour. Quickly, he sent Weasley and Granger to get the nurse and the headmaster respectively. He considered getting Potter's head of house too, but she would be teaching a lesson.

Turning Harry over, he ignored the crowding but surprisingly silent students in favour of discovering the need for such a powerful glamour. Most likely it had something to do with why he collapsed, as he'd faced far worse without fainting. Now that Harry was face down, his back clear to Snape and the watching students, Snape carefully and gradually took Harry's top off him. The smooth skin he was faced with didn't surprise him, but he was frankly scared of what he was going to find under that glamour.

Taking a deep breath, he laid his hands over Harry's back and pushed his magic at the glamour. It was harder than he thought, but oh so gradually scars started appearing underneath his hands, which were beginning to shake in horror. Moving his hands to his arms where the glamour was still present, everyone in the meadow gasped at the clear imprints of nails and belt marks. There was even a faded bruise of s handprint around Harry's throat. The ones that horrified Snape the most though, were those of a whip which, terribly, seemed by far the most common.

Sitting back, he prepared himself for the worst and reached down again. So far, only the very top of the glamour had been revealed, but it went all the way down his back and onto his front. Deciding to leave the rest of his back for now, Snape rolled Harry over again and quickly removed the entire glamour on his stomach with one burst of magic. Snape found his face draining of colour and his hand shaking as he read the words that had clearly been carved into the skin with a knife 'Worthless Freak'. Around the words were uncountable whip and belt marks, along with various other scratches and bruises. The sharp silence that permeated the meadow was only broken by the sobs and gasps of everyone. Even the Slytherins, who were trained not to show any reactions, were wide eyed and had tears in their eyes. Professor Snape himself was in shock. There was no way anyone would have ever guessed what it was like for Harry at home, because he seemed like such a happy child, even after everything.

With a now obviously trembling hand, he once again rolled Harry over. He really, really did not want to know what that glamour was hiding, but he had to remove it. After several deep breaths to calm himself, he reached out and pulled the entire glamour down. He was expecting the scars, dreading them, but expecting them. What he wasn't expecting was for the boy to suddenly deflate, ribs showing and making the scars seem even worse. The level of malnutrition was appalling, one of Professor Snape's hands could wrap around both of Harry's wrists with ease. After noticing and inwardly crying at this, he steeled himself and turned to the scars on his back. The scars were overlaying and completely covered the back. A sentence was written though, starting at between Harry's shoulder blades and ending just above the waist line of his trousers.

He felt his heart freeze and a tear drop down his face as he read the words, burning them into his mind. 'Useless, a worthless Freak. Lots of love, not.' How often had he said to the boy that he was useless? And how often had the boy told people he just wanted to be normal? Well, anyone would after being told that they were a freak for all their life, wouldn't they!

Suddenly it all made sense, why he's collapsed. All that Harry had heard was 'You, boy, are completely useless', but he meant just at Potions. And it hadn't escaped his attention that Harry had avoided the question of 'are you ok?' He hasn't finished his sentence; the boy WAS useless - at Potions.

With tears freely running down his face now, he ran to the Hospital wing, internally wondering where Granger, Weasley, Pomfrey and Dumbledore had gotten to. He had sent for them at least ten minutes ago, they should have already been with him. Sprinting up the stairs just as the bell rang; he dodged past students who all froze at seeing the dreaded 'Potions Master of Stone' crying. Normally this would have annoyed Professor Snape, but frankly he was just grateful that it distracted them from seeing the body in his arms.

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When she heard the doors bang open, Poppy Pomfrey instantly whirled to the noise from where she was talking to the headmaster. Her protests died on her tongue as she felt her heart stutter at the body in Severus' arms. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment.

Over the years, she and Harry had become good friends. She had appreciated his company and humorous attitude when she was in the middle of another unbearably monotonous day. Whenever he was in the infirmary (which was far more often than even his friends knew) and she had a spare moment (which was honestly most of the day) she would sit either on the bed Harry was in or the one next to it and talk, or play wizards chess, or, well, anything really. Staring at the same boy now, he was unrecognisable.

Snapping back to reality, she instantly forced herself into what Harry had dubbed 'business mode'. It meant that she was completely separated from the situation. Sometimes after treating a patient, she couldn't remember a single thing about how she treated them. That usually only happened with particularly bad cases or ones that she personally cared about. That thought, she rushed over to Harry's usual bed, while disgusted that any child could have a 'usual bed' in a hospital wing. She gave a quick wave of her wand and immediately the bed was ready for use.

After laying him down with Severus' help, she gave the Potions Master an evaluating glance and thrust a calming draught in his direction. She needed his concentration; this was going to be hard enough without having to confront Severus as well.

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Many hours later, Poppy sat down with a sigh. Coming out of 'Business Mode', she couldn't believe how long it had taken to get Harry stable. It was now nearing sunset, and Harry had come in at the end of his third lesson. Peering through the hot steam coming from her cup of tea, Poppy watched as Severus closed his eyes wearily. She _still_ didn't know what had happened, and she couldn't remember at all. As soon as he opened his eyes again (she didn't want to disturb his moment) he would be facing interrogation on the threat of giving him a reason to be in the Infirmary.

_**Okay, I know I have COMPLETELY failed at updating AOS. I know what's going to happen in like three more chapters, and then it'll be completely fine, but it's getting there, I promise! Anyway, I've had this on my laptop for months, so I made it less cringe-y and decided to post it. It could be a one-shot or I might continue it… Let me know what you think! (At the moment it's going to be 'Complete', but that could change. Sorry about AOS!**_


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